Curse you, Flying Dutchman!
by Ghostboy814
Summary: My story of why Danny Phantom is being cancelled.
1. Chapter 1

Hi all! This is my interpretation of how and why Danny's getting cancelled. In this fic, Danny is pretty much unaware that he has a TV show, at least at the beginning.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom!**

* * *

The famous trio was spending their Friday evening watching movies at Sam's house.

"Hey, Dan, hook me up with some popcorn?" Tucker requested.

"Sure thing," Danny replied. He stood up and walked over to the popcorn maker and filled up one of the bags that were stacked neatly next to the machine. He was making his way back to the big, comfy chairs when his ghost sense went off. He hurried over to Tucker and dropped the popcorn in his lap.

"Ghost time. Gotta go!" he ran to a clutter-free part of the room and transformed into his spectral alter-ego in two rings of white light. Danny turned intangible and flew up through the roof.

Danny exhaled a second spurt of blue mist and this time, instead of meandering around indiscriminately, the mist floated due east. Danny followed it. He continued to follow his ghost sense until it lead him to the docks. The ghost boy landed next to a tall stack of barrels.

All of a sudden, the water in front of Danny began glowing bright green. The ghost of a mariner rose up out of the murky depths and roared.

"I be the Flying Dutchman!" He announced and leaned forward so that his face was six inches away from Danny's. Then he paused, confused. "What? Aren't people around here afraid of ghosts?"

"They are," the halfa replied, "but around here ghost attacks are a daily occurrence. And it's my job to get rid of the ghosts when they attack." He rose until he was hovering a couple of feet in the air and then shot a green ectoblast at the Flying Dutchman that sent him flying. The luminescent green specter fell in a graceful arc and landed on his back on the wooden dock. He bounced a couple of times and then skidded to a halt just before the water's edge.

"I'll teach ye to anger the Flying Dutchman!" He sucked in a large amount of air and pushed his eyeballs out through their sockets. They two green spheres hung in front of his face by their optic nerves as he waggled his tongue. Upon seeing that the trick wasn't scaring Danny, he brought them back into his head.

"Are you through? Good, now be a good ghost and get into the thermos…" Danny held out his trusty Fenton Thermos and sucked the Flying Dutchman into its confines.

"If he thinks _he's_ scary, he should've seen Vlad that time I hid his hair gel," he muttered, then smirked at the memory. He began the flight back to Sam's house when his cell phone rang. He fished around the pocket of his HAZMAT suit for a bit and pulled out the small device. He answered it as he resumed flying.

"Hello?"

"Danny, this is your mother."

"Oh, hey mom, I'm at Sam's right now."

"Honey, we need you to come home as fast as you can, someone important called for you and you really should call them back."

"Really? Who called for me?"

"I'll explain when you come home."

"Kay, mom. I'll be right there." Danny hung up and pulled into a steep dive that would land him in Sam's basement, at the same time turning himself intangible. He rocketed through the mansion and screeched to a mid-air halt just in front of the projector.

"Hey, Danny! How was the ghost?" Sam asked.

"Ah, just some annoying sailor dude. No big deal."

"So c'mon, change back so we can enjoy the movie."

"I can't, my mom called and said that she wanted me to come home ASAP." Tucker shrugged.

"I'm sure everything's okay. Now, do you mind? Your ecto-signature is distorting the picture." Danny turned around and, indeed, the electromagnetic field his spectral form naturally gave off caused the picture being projected behind him to appear all distorted. He rolled his eyes.

"Something really important could be going on, and all you care about is the stupid picture," Sam chastised, voicing Danny's exact thoughts at the moment. The halfa gave a small smile and disappeared through the ceiling.

Danny flew to FentonWorks and transformed in a narrow alley that was across the street from his house. He crossed the street and entered through the front door, and found his parents in the kitchen. They were working on a device that looked like the scope of a rifle.

"Hi, sweetie," his mother began, "I wrote the person's number down on a Fenton Post-It. They also said that when you called the number, you'd get an automated answering service, and that you should call an extension that I also wrote down."

"Thanks, mom!" Danny picked up the green post-it and headed over to the kitchen phone. He dialed the number and, as his mother had predicted, a cool female voice answered on the other end.

"Thank you for calling Nickelodeon Studios," it said, "if you know the extension you would like to access, please dial it now…" Danny dialed 37 (a/n that's DP on a keypad)as he wondered why on earth Nickelodeon Studios would be calling him. As soon as Danny keyed in the extension, he heard a dial tone. A person picked up the phone on the second ring.

"Danny Fenton?"

"Yeah…who is this?"

"You can call me Dr. Dannett. I represent Nickelodeon Studios."

"Great…why are you calling me? What's going on?"

"Earlier today you sucked the Flying Dutchman into your Fenton Thermos, did you not?" Surprised, Danny jumped back as though he had received an electric shock.

"Wha-how do you know about that? Are you people spying on me?" Dr. Dannett chuckled dryly.

"In a manner of speaking. You're the star of Nickelodeon's #3 rated show, a program entitled Danny Phantom. At least, for now. The purpose of this call is to inform you that the Flying Dutchman is a character on the #1 rated show, Spongebob Squarepants. By sucking him into the thermos, you have violated Nickelodeon's hierarchal code regarding its shows and angered the board of directors. They're retaliating by canceling you."

"And I'm supposed to care about this why?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, all that'll happen is that you'll stop filming me without my knowledge. I don't see any downside for me."

"You have a massive fan base, Danny. If you allow yourself to get cancelled, you'll be letting down thousands of people." Danny groaned. He wanted to just let this show get cancelled for his privacy's sake, but his hero complex wouldn't let him. He just couldn't let all of those people down.

"Fine," he muttered. "I'll fight this."

"A plane will be arriving for you tomorrow at 11:00 PM to take you, and only you, to Nickelodeon Studios Headquarters in Orlando, Florida. Good day to you." The line went dead. Danny slowly brought the phone back to the receiver and turned to face his parents.

"That was…uh…the DALV group. Yeah, them! They wanted to apologize for the mishap when Mom and I were supposed to go to that convention, so they're sending a plane tomorrow that'll take me to Florida."

"Cool! Can I come with you and blather on to the DALV people about ghosts?" Jack asked excitedly.

"Actually, they wanted me to go alone. I should probably start packing." Danny slowly headed up to his room. When he got there, he threw himself onto his bed.

"Agh, damn Nickelodeon! Why do they have to go and cancel me? And why do they have to be making a show about me without my knowledge in the first place?" He covered his head with his pillow.

"But it's good to know that I have fans…even though people here might hate me, I now know that there are people around the world that recognize me as a hero…I wonder if I have any fangirls?" a smile appeared underneath the pillow as his train of thought led him to a station filled with legions of sugar-high, overly-hormonal teen girls all cheering for him. He got up from his bed, revitalized.

"I better start packing," he said to himself, and headed over to his dresser.

* * *

I don't know when I'll be able to update, but this is my only project for now (besides fortrivial stuff such as SAT II's and finals) so I'll work on this as much as I can. DIE, SPONGEBOB! 


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom or any other brand name that I happen to mention throughout this chapter!**

* * *

Danny was putting some spare shirts into his blue suitcase when his cell phone rang. He ran over to his desk, where the thing was charging, and picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Danny!"

"Hi, Sam. What's up?"

"I should be asking you that. What happened once you got home?"

"You're never going to believe this," he took a deep breath. "Apparently I'm the star of a TV show on Nickelodeon. That ghost I fought earlier today was a character on the #1 rated show, and the network is angry at me for sucking him into the thermos. They're going to cancel me, and now I have to go to Nickelodeon Studios in Florida to defend my case." There was silence on the other end.

"Sam?"

"That has to be the dumbest excuse I've ever heard. Seriously, what happened?" Danny laughed.

"I'm not kidding! That's what the guy on the other end told me!"

"So you're saying that there are people that have been filming you without your knowledge for some time now and making a popular TV show out of your life? Cry for attention, much?"

"Sam…"

"Alright, alright, don't blow a gasket. So what are you going to do about it?"

"The only thing I can do-go to Nickelodeon Studios and fight against my being cancelled."

"So you want to go all the way to Florida just to protest against some people you don't even know who want to _stop _invading your privacy?" Danny sighed.

"Pretty much," he replied weakly.

"Why can't you just let yourself be cancelled? It's not like it'll affect you in any way, right?"

"Apparently I have a fan base that'll be disappointed if I get cancelled." Danny could practically see Sam roll her eyes on the other end.

"Fine, Danny. Go fight a legal battle against people you've never met in order to protect people you'll never see again. I'll be waiting for you when you get back."

"Thanks, Sam. I'll try and be back as soon as I possibly can. Bye!"

"Ciao." Sam hung up and half a second later Danny followed suit. He plugged in the charger and placed the phone back onto his desk, and resumed packing.

The next morning arrived bright and cool. Danny blearily opened his eyes, crawled out of bed, and trudged into the shower. After a long, hot shower he shuffled back into his room, changed into the clothes he had laid out the night before, slung his suitcase over his back, and made his way downstairs.

"Hi, sweetie!" Maddie greeted him.

"Hey, mom." Danny let the suitcase fall to the floor with a THUD and went to get cereal, a bowl, a spoon, and some milk.

"Your father and I are going to drive you to the airport as soon as you finish breakfast," his mother explained. "I realize it's only 8 AM, but you know how security is, we need to have you there at least a couple of hours in advance." Danny just nodded.

"Oh, and those DALV people faxed over a boarding pass for you." She placed the ticket on the table next to Danny's cereal bowl. It had the word DALV Corp. written on the top in cursive lettering.

_I wonder how they knew about my excuse from yesterday,_ Danny thought. _Oh wait, they were probably filming me. Ugh, this is going to get really aggravating._ The young hybrid finished his cereal and put the boarding pass in his pocket. He put the now-empty bowl and spoon in the sink and followed his mother outside and into the Fenton RV, and fell asleep almost as soon as the vehicle began moving.

Danny was awoken by his father's booming voice announcing that they had arrived at Amity Airport. He grabbed his blue suitcase and followed his parents inside. Unfortunately, the airport didn't allow non-passengers to go past security. So, right before Danny got on the line that went through the metal detectors, his mom kissed him goodbye and his dad nearly suffocated him in a Fenton Bear Hug. The teen waved goodbye to them and joined the queue to go through the metal detectors.

Once he made it through security, Danny checked the gate on his boarding pass and headed over to A7. He plopped down on one of the plastic seats and waited for his flight to be called.

About half an hour later, an announcement for his flight came over the intercom. "Will Danny Fenton please report to gate A7?" the announcer asked. Danny got up and began walking towards the counter, but then stopped dead in his tracks. He looked out of the massive window that afforded passengers a view of the runway outside and saw the plane that he was supposed to board. It was a huge Boeing 747. But that wasn't what caused Danny to stop. The plane was painted bright orange. _It's like my dad in airplane form,_ the halfa thought. Danny shook his head slightly to regain focus and approached the counter.

"Mr. Fenton?" the woman behind the counter asked.

"Yes, ma'am,"

"Do you have a boarding pass?"

"Sure, here it is." Danny held out the pass that had been in his pocket. The woman scrutinized it carefully. She smiled and handed it back to him.

"Everything seems to be in order here. Have a good flight, sir!"

"Thank you." Danny stowed the boarding pass back in his pocket and carried his suitcase down through the tunnel that connected the airline terminal with the plane. He was greeted by a pair of polite stewardesses when he entered the plane and was led to his seat. As soon as he sat down, the plane taxied away from the terminal and approached the runway.

"Aren't there any other passengers?" Danny asked. The stewardesses laughed lightly.

"No, Mr. Fenton. This plane was sent just for you by Nickelodeon executives."

"Oh…great…" _They're probably trying to endear me to them so that I'm more apt to agree with whatever they might suggest to me. Well, it's not gonna work!_

Danny grimaced as his ears popped and hastily began chewing a stick of Juicy Fruit that he had purchased at the Duty Free while he'd been waiting for the plane to arrive. After his head stopped aching, he pulled an iPod out of his pocket and started listening to some music.

After about half an hour or so, a series of TV screens descended from above the seats and an image of a stewardess appeared on them. Danny took off his headphones so that he'd be able to hear the announcement.

"Attention passengers, the captain would like to inform you that we're entering the third dimension at this time. If you experience an inordinate amount of discomfort, please don't hesitate to ask one of our flight attendants for assistance."

_Third dimension? What the… _the hybrid's thoughts were interrupted by a sucking noise that seemed to be coming from everywhere at once. He felt strange, as though he was literally being stretched out from all directions. He was in this painful predicament for about ten seconds, but then the sucking and stretching stopped with a loud _pop_. Danny opened his eyes, which had been screwed shut due to the pain, and gasped. His two-dimensional world was now 3D.

"Everything looks so…real…" the halfa said to himself. He looked down at his hands and noticed for the first time that his skin had depth and texture that it had never had before. Danny turned on his three-dimensional iPod, put the three-dimensional headphones into his three-dimensional ears, and began listening to his music once again.

His plane landed not too long after that. Danny looked outside at the sunny Florida sky and wondered if he'd get a chance to go to the beach while he was here. As he was getting off the plane, one of the flight attendants told him that his ride to Nickelodeon Studios would meet him in the baggage claim area. Danny thanked her and exited the plane.

Danny followed the signs until he reached the baggage claim area and looked around for the person that was supposed to be driving him. After a couple of minutes, he spotted a man holding a sign that said "Danny Fenton" on it. The man was wearing a black long-sleeved shirt and blue jeans. His black hair was in a part, and his face was sympathetic and kind-looking. All in all, he looked to be in his mid-forties. Danny approached the man and shook his hand.

"Hi, my name is Butch Hartman, I'm the creator of your show. It's great to finally meet you in person, Danny." Danny's grip tightened.

"Wait, so you're the one who's responsible for everyone spying on me?" Butch grimaced.

"Not responsible, no. I was approached by the Board of Directors and asked if I wanted to be in charge of deciding which clips would go into various episodes. They'd been the ones who were spying on you, I just decided which aspects of your life your fans got to see. Oh, and speaking of which, try not to be overwhelmed when we go outside."

"They're all here? Now?" Butch chuckled at the boy's nervousness.

"They wouldn't be allowed inside of Nickelodeon Studios, not unless they wanted to be arrested for trespassing. Unfortunately for us, there's nothing we can do about them congregating here, though."

"W-what do they want from me?"

"Probably an autograph, maybe a display of powers, that's about it." Danny froze for a second.

"You mean _everyone_ here knows my secret?" Butch shrugged.

"Pretty much, yeah. Don't worry, though, you'll never see any of these people ever again, so it's not like their knowing will affect you in any way."

"Still, it's a bit unsettling…" Danny muttered as Butch led him outside into the bright sunlight. All of a sudden, Danny was deafened by what sounded like half a million shrieks.

"Oh my god, it's really him!"

"I love you, Danny!"

"Danny and Sam forever!"

"I loved you in Memory Blank!"

"Vlad is so cute!"

"Flirting with Disaster was so awesome!"

"Dan is so hot!"

"Marry me, Danny!"

Danny blushed at the last one and signed every last shred of paper that was thrust at him. At the crowd's behest, he went ghost and showed them intangibility, invisibility, flight, ectoblasts, and splitting his body in half. He absolutely refused to show them the Ghostly Wail though; he claimed that it was too destructive to use in such a crowded place.

Danny turned himself and Butch intangible so that they were able to make their way through all of the fangirls and over to the black Mercedes that was waiting for them. Danny had to make the car intangible so that it was able to pass through the crowds, and didn't stop until they had reached the safety of the highway. He looked over at Butch, who was grinning at him.

"So, what did you think?" the older man asked. Danny chuckled.

"It was…interesting," the halfa replied. "Ironic, though, that I'm the most unpopular kid at my school but I'm a celebrity here." Butch shrugged.

"Phantom's a celebrity."

"Yeah, but it's not the same. Phantom is famous for his heroics. Nobody back home takes the time to notice me for who I am, though."

"Sam does."

"True…from an outsider's perspective, do you think she really likes me back?" Butch shrugged again, this time with a twinkle in his eye.

"C'mon, we're here," was his reply. He got out and Danny followed suit. The hybrid followed Butch through the doorway and into Nickelodeon Studios with thoughts of his Goth friend swirling around his head.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom!**

* * *

At Nickelodeon studios, Danny was treated well. Really well. He was the guest of honor, so to speak, since he was the star of one of their most famous shows. Danny was shown into various studios where he watched as editors sifted through miles of tape recordings, searching for the ones that would eventually be placed in his show. Butch showed him his own studio, and he was awed. There were pictures of him _everywhere._ The entire thing was covered in photos of both Fenton and Phantom, as well as pictures of almost everyone else in his life.

"It's like my Sam Shrine…only slightly more creepy." All of a sudden, a TV descended from the roof of the studio and began playing the clip from Fanning the Flames when Danny covered his bed in Sam stuff and was meditating to it.

"Okay, I get it, you can stop it now," Danny said, annoyed, and the screen turned off. "Does that happen a lot?" he asked Butch.

"Oh yeah. Try not to get too annoyed by it," he replied.

After the tour of all of the different studios, the two of them went to Nick Hotels and Suites, where Danny got a penthouse suite on account of his stardom. He spent the next three hours enjoying the video-game-and-mini-fridge-stocked suite to its absolute fullest, but then he was called downstairs to the front desk.

"We'd like to know if you wouldn't mind being the special guest for Slime Time this afternoon," the lady at the front desk told him. Danny had never heard of Slime Time, but decided that he might as well try to make a good impression on the executives while he was there, so that they might be a little more benevolent towards him.

"Sure, I guess," he replied.

Four slime-and-fangirl-filled hours of torture later, a very, _very_ tired Danny staggered back into his suite and took a nice, hot, shower. He changed into his pink (as much as he argued that they were salmon, nobody ever believed him) pajamas and sank into the large bed. He fell asleep almost immediately.

The next day, after a continental breakfast that was provided by room service, Danny was taken to the Board Room, where he was to meet with the Board of Directors in order to argue his case against being cancelled.

He entered the room and was met by five men and five women who were sitting around an oval table, the Board of Directors. At the very end of the oval sat a younger man, whom Danny presumed to be Mr. Dannett, the attourney-at-law who represented the Board. His presumption was proven correct when the man stood up and introduced himself. Dannett also introduced the other ten people, but five minutes later Danny couldn't remember their names if his life depended on it, what with the fact that he had the attention span of a teenage boy (about three seconds).

"As you know, you are currently being considered for cancellation because of aggressive action towards this ghost," Dannett began as he held up a card with the picture of the Flying Dutchman. "Do you agree that you took offensive measures when dealing with him?"

"I do," Danny answered warily, and caught one of the board member shaking his head sadly.

"And do you or do you not agree that it was your actions, and your actions only, that caused him to be unable to appear on his own show, a show that is filmed at the bottom of the ocean?"

"I agree, I guess."

"Well, there's nothing more to be said, ladies and gentlemen of the board. Mr. Fenton is clearly guilty of preventing the Flying Dutchman from doing his job, and subsequently preventing five episodes of Spongebob from airing because of that."

"Now wait just a minute," Danny argued. "It's not my fault that I stopped your show from occurring. Heck, I didn't even know that he was part of a show when I did it. But that's neither here nor there. I can't suffer these repercussions for stopping that ghost because it's _my _job to fight ghosts. And if I had just let him get away, then _I_ wouldn't have a show either, right?"

"His show gets better ratings than yours. We lose more money by his absence than yours," one of the board members piped up.

"That may be true, but that still doesn't give me the right to not stop a ghost. I need to protect my hometown from them, period. Whether or not the ghost is from another show, its still my responsibility to stop them."

"Well, perhaps you should have done some background checking before randomly attacking," Dannett replied.

"Okay, first of all, if a ghost just pops out of nowhere and you have to fight him, there isn't exactly time to do a background check. Second, if he's filmed under the sea, why was he in Amity Park anyway?" The board members murmured amongst themselves at this.

"The boy is right," one of them said. "The Flying Dutchman should have stayed in Bikini Bottoms. He had no right to leave."

"Besides," a second of them continued, "Danny was protecting his hometown, a very admirable act indeed. How can we hold that against him?"

"We still can't let him get off scot-free, though," a third member of the board objected.

"In that case, how about we cancel the show but give plenty of advance notice. We won't cancel until February, in order to give the fans plenty of time to prepare," a fourth suggested.

"That could work," the others agreed. So it was settled. Danny Phantom would continue until February, at which point it would be cancelled after fifty-three episodes.

"So? How'd it go?" Butch asked as Danny exited the Board Room.

"Good news and bad news," Danny replied. "Bad news first: We're still getting cancelled." Butch's face fell. "But the good news is that it won't happen until February, so we're still good to go for another eight months." Butch beamed at him.

"Awesome job, Danny. So, is there anything else you want to do while you're here in Florida?" Danny shrugged.

"It's not like I can go out in public without being mobbed by fangirls, so I'm pretty much limited to staying here." He thought for a minute. "Do you think we could go back to my studio for a minute?"

"Sure," Butch replied. The two of them returned and Danny asked for the screen to be lowered.

"Show me…all of the moments with me and Sam together." The screen complied, and showed all of the fluffy scenes that appeared in all of the episodes. As Danny watched from an outsider's perspective, he noticed things that he'd never seen before, like how Sam dented multiple pieces of metal while he was dating Paulina, back when Kitty was overshadowing her. Or how she almost broke down crying every time he came closer to Valerie.

"What a clueless idiot I've been," he said to himself. "She loves me, doesn't she?"

"Yeah, she does," Butch replied.

"And I love her too. I really do." He turned to face Butch. "I need to go back home now." Butch smiled and led him back to his room, where he hurriedly packed up. They drove to the airport, where Danny ignored cries of 'let me have your babies, Danny!' and got on a plane back to Amity Park.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: If you think I own Danny Phantom, you obviously haven't been paying attention this whole time.**_

* * *

There was a couple of seconds of blackness before someone had the sense to remove the lens cap. As soon as they did, the video camera showed two raven-haired teens, a boy and a girl, standing in what appeared to be a teenager's bedroom. The walls were painted a soft blue and there were pictures of astronauts and spaceships everywhere._

"_Tell me again why we're doing this?" the cameraman asked._

"_Because, Tucker," the boy replied, exasperated. "This moment is way too important for the only recorded copy to belong to Nickelodeon Studios. I want to have one of our own as a memento. Trust me, by the end of this tape, you'll be thanking me for giving you solid proof."_

"_Proof of what, though?" the girl asked. "What are we supposed to be doing that's so important?"_

"_Well, remember how I told you that there was a studio devoted entirely to me when I went to Florida?"_

"_Yeah, what of it?"_

"_Well, I was looking at some clips of us, and from looking at it from an outsider's perspective I saw things that I'd never really seen before. Like how jealous you got when I was dating Paulina. Or how heartbroken you got when I was dating Valerie. Or how insanely clueless I've been over the past year. I really have been an idiot all this time, not to have noticed." Somehow, he managed to keep his gaze set on her instead of turning away and blushing._

"_Sam, I'm so sorry for hurting you all those times. I know now that you have feelings for me that transcend that of mere friendship. And I want you to know that I have the same feelings for you." He gently cupped her face in one of his hands._

"_Danny, I…" she was cut off by him leaning over and brushing his lips over her own. He held the kiss for a few seconds, then pulled away and turned to the cameraman._

"_See? And now you have proof. What did I tell you?"_

Butch chuckled as he reached the end of the copy of the tape that Danny was kind enough to mail to him. His employers had obviously gotten their own shots of the scene, just as Danny had predicted, and it was those clips that had made up part of the final episode. There had been a huge positive reaction to the lovebirds finally getting together as DxS shippers finally got what they'd been waiting for. The ratings for that episode were off the charts, but the Executive Board stuck to its guns and cancelled the show anyway. Butch couldn't blame them though; a deal was a deal.

He wondered, though, what would have happened had the Flying Dutchman not gone AWOL and tried to enter Amity Park. Danny wouldn't have sucked him into the thermos, and his show wouldn't have gotten cancelled. But then, he'd never have seen the studio and would never have gotten together with Sam. So Butch supposed that it was all for the best that things had turned out the way they did. Even so, he couldn't help but hope that wherever in the Ghost Zone the Flying Dutchman was now, he was having a miserable time.

_Meanwhile, in the Ghost Zone…_

"Will you be my friend?"

"Argh! The Flyin' Dutchman has no friends, ye scurvy cur! Now leave me be!"

"Aw, pleeease?"

"Grr…"

THE END


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